BOCES Seniors Take Third in Contest Against College Students

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ALBANY

Five Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES high-school seniors competed with college students from multiple engineering programs in New York State and tied for third place, winning $5,000.00 for their invention.

New York State Industries for the Disabled, or NYSID, hosted its tenth annual, statewide competition on April 8. Each year, engineering students showcase specific inventions to help those with disabilities.

ONC BOCES is the first and only high school to compete in the history of this annual competition, called CREATE, or Cultivating Resources for Employment with Assistive Technology.

According to its website, “NYSID’s academic challenge encourages assistive technology innovation for New Yorkers with disabilities in order to remove barriers from the workplace. CREATE offers student engineers the opportunity to put their knowledge to use in the context of a real-life experience during their capstone projects.”

One problem being faced today is that nearly 70 percent of people with disabilities in New York State are unemployed. NYSID is working to improve that.

It was Creekside Industries, a division of The Arc Otsego, that approached ONC BOCES to ask for help last December. Nils Anderson, an instructor in the Mechatronics/Robotics Program, visited Creekside Industries on Brown Street in Oneonta to assess their needs.

Anderson learned that New York State has mandated that feminine products be available in all school bathrooms. Creekside Industries identified a shortfall in the ability to keep up with the increased demand for feminine products that must be sleeved and work in dispensing machines. Creekside employs individuals with disabilities. Some had difficulty sealing the plastic sleeves around tampons.

The ONC BOCES team—comprised of Nick Troiano, Trevor Campagna, Owen GusMaureentafson, Tyler Sorensen, and Michael Sprague—developed a robotic device to automatically crimp the plastic around the tampons.

Anderson explained, “The robot was designed to crimp 20-25 tampons at a time. The team estimates that, in an eight-hour day, Creekside can produce between 80,000-90,000 sleeved tampons per day using this invention.”

Maureen O’Brien, president and chief executive officer of NYSID, said, “NYSID is a private, not-for-profit based in Albany with a 45-year history.”

O’Brien is NYSID’s first woman CEO and has been at the helm for five years.

“We’ve had 96 inventions in 10 years through NYSID’s CREATE program,” she said.

By inviting aspiring engineers from multiple schools to partner with businesses to solve real-world problems, NYSID is encouraging innovation.

“We believe here at NYSID that individuals of all abilities bring particular strengths to each challenge, particularly neurodivergent or intellectually disabled individuals. They see the world differently,” O’Brien explained.

O’Brien said, “Individuals with disabilities are an important part of our workforce in New York State.”

She wants businesses to know that “providing accommodations needed is not all that difficult.”

In fact, the five high-school seniors from ONC BOCES have proven this, having figured out how to solve the problem Creekside Industries presented.

O’Brien said, “By exposing young engineers to these industry challenges, they become better equipped to create products with this experience and the diverse thinking of many.”

“The Mechatronics/Robotics Program has only been established in the past five years by ONC BOCES. I do a capstone project with my seniors every year and it usually involves building a machine. When Creekside Industries asked for our help, we were happy to assist,” Anderson added.

“I am very proud of these five students. They did this project in a very short period of time. They only had about two months to build the prototype. They put in a lot of hours,” Anderson said.
The $5,000.00 prize money is split between Creekside Industries and ONC BOCES to cover the costs associated with building the prototype.

2024 Winners Include:

• 1st Place: NYIT—Gamified Silk Screen Cleaner ($15,000.00)
• 2nd Place: NYIT—SafeChef Cutlery System ($10,000.00)
• 3rd Place (tie): Cooper Union—Be a Companion Automated Wheelchair Locking Device and ONC BOCES—Automated Crimper ($5,000.00 each)

The five BOCES students competed with college engineering students from the New York Institute of Technology and Cooper Union. Past winners include engineering students from the University of Rochester, Binghamton University and others across the state.